FEATURE: URBAN ART SHOW

March 21, 2019

NextStreet Gallery is proud to present an art show that captures an integral part of our modern moment: Urban Show. Opening on March 21, and running until April 6, this group exhibition highlights the work of 5 artists from around the world- working on shaping our global perception of street art. None of the artists shy away from bringing their personal contexts to the work.

The variation of mediums and styles demonstrate an evolving definition of urbanity. Each artist focuses on the intersection of their subcultures; whether it be through the hip hop world, LGBTQ community or other cultural minorities. Our exhibition creates a global framework allowing urban art lovers to have a broader vision of the scope of street art.

Each artist focuses on different approaches we can take as a community to move forward. Kurar, for example, tackles the socio-political challenges of this moment by evaluating our origins as a society. His theory is that we might be able to resolve injustice through awareness. This is beautifully in dialogue with Nuno Viegas, who suggests that perhaps the solution to the rapid acceleration of society is focusing on the simple, but powerful. He exquisitely balances the modern and classic world through focusing on the essential through-lines that have existed throughout history.

By contrast, Drew Merritt focuses on evoking change through the emotional reaction of the onlooker- a complex experience that is justly represented in his extremely detailed work. Aaron Li-Hill, on a similar vein, is fascinated by information saturation and the future of industrialisation through creating large scale mural work. Vera Kochubey investigates the psychology of industry and our growing world. These different perspectives not only compliment, but also build off of each other. The points of intersection between the five artists creates a show that functions as an active dialogue.

We are excited to welcome the audience into our space to continue this discussion about the future of culture through the lens of street art.

As a theme graffiti is noticeably my focus point and biggest inspiration. When it comes to artists there a lot of different creators who inspire me from oldschool graffiti writers like Seen to the more recent crews like 1UP. But it goes all the way from photographers like Philip Halsman to Asger Carlsen or the performative artist Francis Alys. There are a lot of artists from all different areas who somehow inspire me. it would take a long list to name them all. When it comes to urban contemporary art I also look up to a lot of artists but I keep a close look to Telmo Miel and Fanakapan’s work.

Rotterdam! It was the first city I noticed a lot of people making a living out of their own creativity which lead me to believe that this would be possible for me and triggered my will to be a full time artist.